GDP growth in many countries is pumping up a desire for more food and fuel products.

The economic surge behind increased food and fuel consumption is showing little signs of abating. In 2005, global GDP growth was 4.9 percent, including over 10 percent in China and over 8 percent in India.

With higher incomes, people in many countries are looking to improve the quality of their lives. For many, that means more and better food; for others, it includes higher consumption of energy products. In China, the number of cars on the road has been growing rapidly, driving up the need for fuel from all sources.

Head Count

When you consider that it took many centuries for human evolution to reach a population of 2.6 billion in 1950, it is staggering to consider the pace of growth that drove world population to 6.5 billion in 2005.

While this rapid pace of population growth has slowed slightly, our current world population is expected to continue to expand and to reach 9.1 billion by 2050.

Farmers will continue to be challenged not only to grow more crops for food and fuel, but to protect the fertility of the soil for this rising population.

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This pursuit of lifestyle changes is expected to continue with the ongoing growth in GDP. For example, world per capita meat consumption grew from 30 kilograms per year in 1980 to 41 kilograms in 2005. Even though people in Asian countries are enjoying more protein in their diets, their meat consumption is still only 25 percent of that for North Americans.

That suggests that significant growth potential remains, increasing the need for crops used to feed people and animals.

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